Benjamin Palmer's Advertisement in 1756 To Raise Subscriptions To Fund a Free Bridge From Manhattan

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Benjamin Palmer was the son-in-law of Thomas Pell, Third Lord of the Manor of Pelham. In 1761, Benjamin Palmer purchased from his brother, Joseph, the island then known as Minefor's Island (known today as City Island, long a part of the Town of Pelham before its annexation by New York City). Benjamin Palmer had grand plans to build a large port City on the island intended to rival New York City as an international shipping hub.

Before he bought City Island, however, Palmer was known for his efforts to break the monopoly, so to speak, of the only bridge from Manhattan to the mainland -- the toll bridge known as King's Bridge. To this end, in 1756 he began efforts to raise the funds necessary to build a free bridge from Manhattan. Today's Historic Pelham Blog Posting transcribes an advertisement that Palmer placed in the June 7, 1756 issue of The New-York Mercury (page 4) seeking subscriptions to fund the construction of such a bridge. The advertisement read:

"WHEREAS the toll paid for passing and repassing the bridge from the island of New York, to the main, commonly called King's-Bridge, is thought a heavy tax upon the publick, the profits thereof going to no publick fund, but tend only to increase the private fortune of a particular subject; and I being urged and importuned by several gentlemen of plentiful fortunes, to undertake to erect a good sufficient FREE-BRIDGE across the said river, and knowing that it would be a benefit to the publick in general; and also knowing that we are a free people, born in a free land, and live under the protection of his present majesty GEORGE the IId, who grieves that any of his subjects should be loaded with taxes that can be avoided, have agreed to the proposal, and now publishes it to the world, that all people concerned in this affair, may take it into their calm and deliberate considerations, before the subscription papers are handed about, which will be in a short time, being the only method to raise a fund to build the said Free-Bridge: Therefore we hope all those who prefer a publick good, before private interest, will be good enough to incourage and protect this undertaking. Consider, gentlemen, how many of our fore-fathers have been slain in battle, and what hardships and difficulties they underwent to conquer and subdue our savage enemies the indians, that they and their posterities might enjoy the peace and privilege of the land, which were won by them so painfully, and also how many hundreds of gallant men have been slain last year; how boldly they went against Crown-Point and the Ohio, to recover the lands, the just rights and privileges of the English nation, from the French our common enemy.

BENJAMIN PALMER."

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